By the Skin of His Teeth
by Muse10
Summary: For the sake of Pippin's life, Legolas loses a little piece of himself. Literally.


Disclaimer: Don't own LOTR

Summary: _For the sake of Pippin's life, Legolas loses a little piece of himself. Literally._

Just a short gap-filler during the Fellowship's earlier days before they reached Moria, including some of my own theories on elven biology. Enjoy!

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By the Skin of His Teeth**

There were too many orcs to count; at least, that was Pippin's opinion. The fellowship had been forced to separate during the fighting, although the big folks tried to keep an eye on the hobbits. Pippin could still see Boromir and Merry through the stinking bodies of their foes, and he heard the others clearly enough to know they weren't too far away. Boromir had managed to keep most of the orcs from making their way over to Pippin, so the little hobbit was only left to deal with one or two. Still, they were much stronger than he was, and he found himself desperately wishing for one of the others to come and help him. He chanced another glance at Merry, who fought bravely just behind Boromir. If Merry could do it, then so could he! He threw himself harder against the orcs, stabbing at their feet in order to bring them down to his height.

Pippin was concentrating so hard on fighting the orcs in front of him that he failed to notice one sneak up on his side until someone shouted, "PIPPIN! DOWN!"

He had only a second to register the look of horror on Merry's face as he threw himself to the ground. Boromir was busy keeping other orcs from getting closer. Though the man looked as if it were breaking his heart, he was forced to remain where he was or lose his own life before he could even reach the hobbit.

Pippin rolled over and found himself facing a particularly ugly orc. The orc raised his scimitar with a nasty grin. Pippin screamed and shut his eyes, waiting for the end.

There was a dull thud as something hit the ground nearby. Pippin opened his eyes, thinking the orc was as stupid as he was ugly for missing the hobbit, only to find that his attacker was gone. The hobbit scrambled to his feet and discovered that the orc and several of its companions were lying in the dirt with arrows sticking out of their necks. Pippin looked over to see Legolas standing on a slight hill, giving the elf enough of a vantage point to shoot from. Legolas did not bother to acknowledge Pippin's grateful stare, as he was already stabbing an arrow into the orc that had come up behind him while he shot down Pippin's attackers.

A quick look around told Pippin that the battle was finally coming to an end. The numbers of their enemies were quickly dwindling. Boromir was finishing off the last few orcs in their area and Aragorn and Gandalf were having no difficulty protecting Frodo and Sam a few feet away. Gimli pulled his axe out of an orc and looked disappointed to see there were no more nearby. Pippin looked back at the hill, where Legolas was still fighting the orc with an arrow in its stomach. The elf had not had time to grab his knives, and so his bow had been flung aside in favor of his fists. To Pippin's surprise, the orc had also been disarmed, and its brute strength was being easily matched by the elf. The creature managed to land just one good punch before Legolas found a grip around the orc's head. He twisted it hard, and with a sickening crack it's neck snapped.

Pippin felt his jaw drop, completely unable to tear his eyes away from the scene. The elf let the orc's body drop to the dirt, then looked around while holding one hand to his bloody mouth. Finding the battle over (or so Pippin assumed, since there were no more cries behind him), Legolas collected his bow and made his way over to the others. A hand clasped Pippin's shoulder. "You okay, Pip?"

Pippin blinked, closed his mouth, and turned to face his cousin. "I'm alright."

Relief washed over Merry's face. "Thank goodness. When I saw you fall, I thought…well, you know."

Boromir sheathed his sword and ruffled the hair of both hobbits, "I'm sorry I couldn't reach you, Pippin, and I'm sorry I didn't notice that orc sooner. It chills my bones to think of what could have happened."

"It's alright; Legolas saved me." A sudden thought dawned on him. "Oh! I suppose I should thank him!" Pippin ran over to where Legolas was standing with Aragorn, while Gandalf looked over the others to be sure they were alright. The elf was the only one who was visibly injured, and he still held his hand over his mouth. Pippin was surprised to see that Legolas was spitting something into it – a most un-elvish thing, in the opinion of a hobbit. Legolas brought his hand away, looked at his palm, and made a face.

Aragorn chuckled, "And you tell me that I am disgusting!"

Legolas scowled, "You are dirty of your own free will, Aragorn. I was punched in the face by an orc with a very heavy fist. There is a difference."

"You are right, mellon-nin, I should not laugh when you are in pain. Let me have a look?" said Aragorn. The ranger reached toward the elf's bloody mouth, but Legolas recoiled.

"It's nothing that won't heal in a day or two. The only trouble is –" he turned his head away and spat blood on the ground, "all I can taste is blood and orc. It is most unpleasant."

"I'll get some water for you," Aragorn promised, already heading towards Gandalf. Sam had, naturally, refused to leave Bill without some protection, so in order to protect the gardener they had been forced to protect the pony. In the end, it had probably saved their supplies.

"M-mister Legolas?" Pippin stuttered.

Legolas turned and offered him a closed-mouth smile, which was disturbing more than anything else due to all the blood. "Yes, pen-eth?"

"Thank you for saving my life. And I'm sorry you got hurt!"

"That is not your fault, and I will be quite well soon enough. I must look a mess!" said Legolas.

"Just…just a little," Pippin admitted.

Legolas laughed, "I appreciate your honesty, Pippin. I am glad that you are well."

"Thanks to you!" Pippin added.

Aragorn returned and offered Legolas a canteen. "Indeed," he smirked, "one might say that Pippin survived by the skin of _your _teeth, Legolas."

"That is not funny," Legolas scowled before taking a swig of water, swishing it in his mouth, and spitting it back out away from them.

"What do you mean, Strider?" asked Pippin.

"It's just a stupid human expression," Legolas mumbled.

Aragorn laughed, "One you have proven to be perfectly appropriate!" He leaned down and whispered loudly in Pippin's ear, "That last orc managed to knock out two of our fair elf's teeth!"

"Oh." Then the words registered, and Pippin looked horrified. "Oh no! I'm so sorry, Mister Legolas! That must have hurt an awful lot, and you can't just put them back in!"

Legolas sighed and looked at his hand, still closed around his missing teeth, "It really is alright, Pippin. My mouth is sore now, but they're only teeth."

"But that will make you look awful!" Pippin exclaimed before he could stop the words from leaving his mouth. "I mean…not awful, but different. Er, no, wait…"

To his surprise, Legolas smiled – again without showing his teeth, of course, "Fear not, pen-eth, I have already said that I value your honesty. Yes, I suppose I will look a little strange for the next few days, but you needn't worry. My teeth will grow back."

Pippin blinked. "Grow back? But you can't still have your baby teeth!"

Now both the human and the elf burst into laughter. "Pippin, elves aren't like men and hobbits," Aragorn explained. "They live for a very, very long time. Did you think they could go so long with just one set of teeth?"

"I suppose not," Pippin replied, wondering why he had never thought to ask about such a thing.

"We lose and re-grow our teeth naturally every fifty years or so," Legolas explained. "I'm not thupposed – ugh! _s__u_pposed to lose the ones I have now for a few more years, but my body will speed up the process on these two in order to compensate."

"Really?!" The concept fascinated Pippin, and he could not help glancing from the elf's mouth to his closed hand.

"Really," said Legolas. He opened his fist, showing Pippin the two little white bones in his palm, all covered in strings of red blood. "You can have them if you'd like, though I cannot imagine why you'd want them."

"Actually, they make excellent necklaces," said Aragorn.

Legolas stared at the man. "Please tell me you didn't…"

Aragorn only grinned, "Not just yours. If you recall, I was only ten at the time. The twins gave me some of theirs as well, and I believe I even had one or two of mine. I asked for help from one of the smiths to put holes through them all, strung them on some twine, and gave it to my mother believing it a very fine surprise for her. She actually kept it; I found it in a box of her things many years later."

Legolas groaned, "Ai Elbereth! Your poor mother."

"That is alright, Legolas; as much as I am…erm, honored by the offer, I do not think I could take your teeth," said Pippin.

"That is probably for the best," Legolas agreed. He closed his hand again, pulled it back, and threw the teeth into the woods, away from the stinking orc corpses. He dumped the water on his hand to clean it before doing the same to his face and mouth.

Their companions rejoined them as he finished, all looking to be only a few bruises and scrapes worse for the wear. Gimli immediately noticed the blood still oozing from the cut on Legolas' mouth. "Looks like an orc split your pretty lips there, Master Elf."

Legolas glowered at the dwarf, but the effect was lost when he tried to respond without showing his teeth. "It matters not to me, Master Dwarf."

Gandalf shook his head, "If you are well enough, then let us move on. I do not think it wise to stay so close to the orcs; they will attract hungry animals." The rest of the Fellowship agreed and began to depart, but Pippin heard Legolas mutter something in Aragorn's ear.

"If you breathe a word of this to the dwarf, I will knock out more than a few of your teeth, and they will _not _grow back."

"You do know that you will not be able to hide this for so many days?" Aragorn barely suppressed his laughter.

"I am not joking, Aragorn, one word and I will…"

"Have it your way. I shan't say anything." They moved apart, and with a last glance at the orc with the broken neck Pippin decided he would say nothing as well, not even to Merry.

Of course, the evening found Gimli falling off a log in fits of laughter after he discovered the elf's predicament on his own when Legolas did not quite manage to recover from a lisp.


End file.
